Requirements of a One-Year De Facto Relationship for the Partner Visa

Being unmarried makes it mandatory to meet the one year De Facto relationship requirement to get an approval for your partner visa. Commonly this is also known as De Factor visa application.

If you intend to lodge a partner visa application as ‘de facto relationship’ you must present your de facto relationship exists for at least 1 year when the application is processed.

How does Australian Migration Law Consider De Facto Relationship?

The Australian Migration Law considers two people in a de facto relationship if they are:

• Not married
• Each of them has a mutual commitment to share life together to the exclusion of others
• The two of them are in a continuing and genuine relationship
• There is no family relation between the two
• If the two have been separated but only on a temporary basis

Requirements for a One-Year De Facto Relationship

The one-year de facto relationship requirement does not imply that a couple has to live together every day for an entire year.

Even the department recognizes and understands that in some situations, the couple may have to stay apart because of reasons like family commitment or work. Of course, the separation ought to be temporary only and not a permanent one.

For situations when you are temporarily separated by your partner, it is extremely vital that justify the situation with valid reasons, like family commitment or work. But even during the separation, the communication must be maintained between the partners. Under all circumstances, the separation has to be temporary only and not a permanent one. Such evidence is crucial to satisfy the one year de facto relationship situation.

Crucial Evidence to Prove a One-Year De Facto Relationship

Being a de facto couple, both the individuals must show a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exception of all others, which is continuing and genuine.

Besides this the other crucial evidences you can use to confirm your de-facto relationship are:

Where your Relationship Started

Important evidence to tell the department about the history of your de facto relationship is to tell them about your relationship history. The relationship history must be presented in a relationship statement. The relationship statement must include prominent things like:

• Where, when, and how the two first met
• How the relationship developed.
• How committed they are to each other when it is about physical support, emotional support, and financial support.
• If the partners were separated on a temporary basis, then they must keep in close contact with each other.

Along with the relationship statement, you must also offer evidence to satisfy the 4 important criteria of Partner Visa Australia, which are discussed below.

1. The Social Status of You De Facto Relationship

For most of the couples, the social status of a relationship highly matters. It is the easiest aspect to confirm your de facto relationship status for the Partner Visa. Important evidence that you need to provide in this context are:

• Photos of you and your partner as a couple along with your family and friends.
• Evidence of social activities with common family and friends.
• Evidence that both of you are socially popular as a couple through joint invitations or social media.
• Evidence that you regularly participate in social, cultural, or sports activities as a couple

2. The Financial Benchmarks of Your Relationship

The financial status of your relationship is a vital aspect that the de facto couples must satisfy. You have to prove to the department that you as well as your partner share financial responsibilities and expenses as a couple.

The simplest way to prove the financial aspects of a de facto relationship is with a joint bank account. But simply offering a newly opened joint bank account, which is not in use on a regular basis, will not work. Many individuals would have a misconception about it. You must only offer proof of your bank account that is used on a regular basis.

Simply an empty joint bank account with very less or no transactions can create a negative impact on your application. You need to show the department that you are contributing and sharing whatever expenses that you have and one way to confirm that this is a continuous transaction.

A tip here you can consider is to highlight the transactions on the bank statement. The bank statement can be quite lengthy and confuse for the department. Hence, it is best to highlight the transactions that are important and relevant and makes it easier for officers to assess the joint status of your application.

Another way is to present a joint lease. This is an excellent way to provide that you and your partner share same financial responsibility. Besides this, the other ways to prove the financial context of your de facto relationship status are:

• Joint utility bills, such as electricity, water, or internet
• Joint liabilities like a bank loan
• Purchasing a car together
• Joint insurance coverage like private car insurance or health insurance

3. Your Household Status

It can be quite difficult to prove the nature of your household with the support of hard evidence as this mainly corresponds to shared responsibilities you carry out the house. It is but mandatory to outline such responsibilities in your relationship statement.

Some of the hard evidence that you can use to disclose the nature of your household is:

• Receipts of furniture or other household stuff purchased together
• Joint household expenditures
• Email addressed to both of you on the same address

4. Your Dedication and Commitment to Each Other

The department wishes to see that you and your partner in a de facto relationship have the intention to have a long-term relationship. This can be disclosed by placing each other on the wills, planning to start a family or it may be that you are saving up to purchase a house together in the future.

You and your partner can also illustrate the extent of your emotional support and companionship that you have for each other. This implies that you are aware of each other’s personal situations; you offer emotional support to each other when times are difficult, and you maintain contact during the period of separation.

Unless you have hard evidence to offer, most of these points can be presented in your relationship statement.

Exemptions to One-Year Relationship Statement

If you fail to meet the 12 months de facto relationship as you have just begun your relationship, there are still ways to waive this need.

You can illustrate the following to waive the 1 year de facto relationship needs:

• Register the relationship with a participating territory or state. Presently, the territories and states that have specific laws in place enabling a relationship to be registered in South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, Australia Capital Territory, and Victoria.
• There are compassionate and compelling circumstances that approve visa, especially, when there is a child in the relationship.
• Your partner is the holder of a permanent humanitarian visa if he was in a de facto relationship with you before approval of visa, and it was announced to the department.
• Your partner is an applicant for a permanent humanitarian visa.

What if there are not Enough Evidence?

You must always offer as much evidence as you can support your Partner visa application. But, not every couple is the same. Some may have hundreds of photos and others would have only had few, or some may possess less financial evidence.

If you don’t have enough hard evidence, such a financial proof when you file an application then explains how you support each other in the relationship statement.

How Can DMS Help?

DMS can showcase you as well as your sponsoring employer from the beginning and until a final decision is made on the employer-sponsored visa application. As an important part of our service, we will offer you sponsoring employer through labor market testing confirming the position description, and all other aspects meet the requirements before they begin conducting LMT process.

You can consult our expert at any time.

Amitava Deb

• Amitava is a gold medallist from India’s premier technical institute, IIT Kharagpur.
• He has worked with some of the world’s top companies such as Sony Australia Pty. Ltd., Siemens AG Germany, Clarity International Ltd., Reliance Communications and Optus Sydney.
• Amitava is a Chartered Professional Engineer accredited by Engineers Australia. He is a full member of this esteemed association.
• He is a member of the Australian Computer Society, Tele Management Forum and Worldwide Institute of Software Architects.
• Amitava is a well-recognised name in the ICT Professional Community in Australia.